February 02, 2021

Andrew Campbell 

The Minister of Forestry and Fisheries and Environmental Affairs of the Republic of South Africa, Barbara Creecy, revealed the encouraging news about the 2020 wildlife conservation of rhino in the country on February 1.

In 2020, the official record listed 394 rhinos were hunted down in South Africa in comparison to 594 killed in 2019. The number showed a significant reduction of 33% in rhino poaching. Ms. Creecy considered the 2020 sharp fall was mainly subjected to lockdown measures which installed strict restrictions on movement across the country to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the Asian market Rhino horns are often acquired for traditional medicine or as a claimed aphrodisiac. Thus, poachers have continued to slaughter rhinos for their horns in South Africa, the homeland to 80% of the world’s rhinos.

Despite the drop of the poaching numbers for 6 years continuously, conservationists and opposition leaders worried these figures ignore an overall decline in the rhinoceros population in South Africa.

Photo:Webshot.